our newest fears
by kennyr13
Summary: Kinda lame title i know but i couldn't think of anything really. 2282 five years after the events of fallout 3 and Broken Steel. PLease review rated T for language violence.
1. 1

Joseph Hertz led a slave convoy towards the Lincoln memorial. He was nervous for several reasons; first he could count on one hand how many slaver convoys that had been successful since the Brotherhood established themselves as the governing force over the capital wasteland. Also there were rumors around camp the HE had been sighted recently which had sent fears around the small slaver community like wildfire. They all knew of HIS compound in Paradise falls guarded by everything from robots to mercenaries but no one had seen him in combat in a few months and there was actually a rumor floating around their secluded camp inside Vault 92 (which had been cleared by the lone wanderer ironically three years earlier) That the much hated Lone wanderer had died in his sleep. This however proved to be a lie as their leader Harmon found a severed head on his desk in the old overseers office.

Some would be surprised at the location of the only remaining slaver camp so close to the newly established settlement of Old Olney. But Joseph saw it as an advantage. They were so close that no one really suspected the old vault as a possible Slaver base of operations. The only trouble they ever really had was when a curious settler or Brotherhood patrol would see something go into the cave and decide to follow. That was what they had the turrets for though. At the entrance were their two best guards with some of our best weapons and two Mark V turrets which did good in guarding the vault's only way of entrance and exit. However the security of the base was not the main issue now. Convoys of Slaves had been intercepted and were being picked off a lot these days it seemed. This particular convoy was bound for the Lincoln memorial where a small outpost was set up to take the Slaves to a boat where they would be transported somewhere down south. However Joseph and the rest of the slavers escorting the thirty slave convoy were still nervous; this was of course the first convoy sent out since HE was spotted. Scott quietly worried and waited for the doomed convoy to meet its end. The guard in front was the first to hear something in the distance.

He stopped in his tracks and brought his AK47 to his shoulder, "He's here!" He kept his gun up and backed up to a Slave and took her hostage The other guard followed suit but their leader just stood there scared stiff at the sound of the legendary bad guy killer. A tickle of fear raced down Joseph's spine as he heard a small chuckle from his right. This chuckle was responded to by automatic fire from all three of his guards. Nothing hit of course as they were shooting out of pure fear of the man who may or may not have been lurking in the shadows. The suspicion that the Lone wanderer was lurking in the shadows was starting to drift away when a single rifle shot was heard sending shock waves of terror through the small band of raiders. A guard standing near the front of the convoy was blown apart by what Joseph though may have been a armor piercing round. Joseph, still paralyzed by fear could only watch as another one of his guards was was blown apart sending blood everywhere. The final guard dropped his hostage and ran to a rock for cover he popped up and fired a barrage of automatic fire from his gun Joseph tried to run for cover as he saw his last guard get blown away. Joseph dove behind a destroyed car. Slowly but surely a figure rose from the shadows and walked towards him casually, his old faded brown duster blowing back slightly giving him an even more menacing look. Joseph thought only once of the 10 millimeter pistol holstered on his hip before he dropped to his knees in a jumbled heap.

"Please don't."

The lone wanderer neared him and surprisingly holstered what appeared to be a modified hunting shotgun with a pistol grip and a shortened barrel. The lone wanderer stood studying Joseph for a moment. Then he spoke, "You're not from here are you?"

Joseph nodded, confirming the Lone Wanderer's suspicion.

"So why would a traveler such as yourself be out here with Slavers?"

Joseph shrugged, "It seemed like easy enough work I guess."

"Well you obviously were wrong there; let me ask something?"

"Anything."

"How much caps were you getting paid for this job?"

"Two... Twoo hunndered" Joseph spoke fear clearly shown in his face."

LW shook his head, "Two hundred caps Slavers sure are underpaid these days."

With that the dark figure drew a blade from his back and jabbed it into Joseph's chest hitting his heart directly cutting off all main bodily functions within seconds of the wound. The failed Slaver's last thought as the scene drifted out of his vision was that of regret, regret for his life, regret for leaving his village, and regret for ever crossing the infamous Lone Wanderer. As blood gushed from Joseph's mouth the Lone wanderer opened up a recorder on his pip-boy.

"Scott Davidson October 23, 2282. Found another Slaver convoy much to my surprise today. Turns out their boss is more reliable than I would have thought. Taking now emancipated slaves to East Brotherhood outpost where they can find places hopefully."

With that Scott retrieved a handkerchief from his pocket and cleaned Josephs blood off of the machete. He then turned toward the slaves projecting his voice. "I will be escorting you all to a nearby brotherhood outpost where you will be safe for the night. Please follow me and keep up or you will be left behind." With that Scott turned and led the Slaves down the road east toward the outpost. He walked keeping a vigilante eye on his surroundings not but deep down not really expecting much in the way of assault on the moving convoy in the dead of night. They mostly walked in silence as most of the Slaves were either still in shock from what had just happened or too afraid of the savior to even consider engaging in conversation with him.

Brotherhood East outpost two hours earlier

Sarah Lyons knew something was wrong when she landed and the smell of burning buildings and sulfur filled the air. It had only been a few minutes since the distress signal had come waking up everyone in the Den and sending the citadel into a complete state of panic for about five minutes. Elder Lyons dispatched Lyons pride because the distress signal had not come with a message. The only thing that signified that it was indeed a distress signal because it was operating on one of the three emergency radio signals that the brotherhood had established after they raided the remaining Enclave assets and taken their access to state of the art pre-war communications equipment.

Sarah immediately knew something was wrong because of the overall size of this attack; the entire outpost had been razed to the ground leaving nothing left, except a few bodies. Although Paladin Alexander; the commander of this outpost had not been recovered his second in command, Knight captain Rhodes' corpse was. His corpse unfortunately did not yield many clues to what had happened here. Sarah ordered that the pride form a perimeter while she radioed for backup. Sarah was trying to keep her calm demeanor but in the pit of her stomach she knew that if whatever this was came back they wouldn't have a chance. Sarah walked over the vertibird and used the radio that was just inside.

"This is Sentinel Lyons requesting a knight squad to the East brotherhood outpost immediately."

Paladin Tristan's voice filled the other end of the radio, "What's wrong Sarah?"

"They burned the damn outpost. There's nothing left... There's nothing left."

"Who burned the outpost?"

"I don't fucking know Tristan."

"OK calm down Sarah keep your soldiers cool I will be there shortly."

"OK whatever hurry up."

Sarah slammed the receiver on the radio down and started to walk back to the perimeter when she heard a voice. The kind of voice you don't expect to here again, "What the hell happened here?"

Sarah turned around and saw Scott in a dirty duster with close to thirty people standing behind him.


	2. 2

Sarah couldn't believe how this night was going. First one of their outposts gets burned to a smoldering ruin. Then Scott of all people just shows up. Sarah gulped then tried to speak, but Scott beat her to it, "Um.. I know this is probably awkward for you but it's obvious you've got much bigger problems right now. So I'm just gonna take these people to Megaton and let them figure it out." Sarah once again tried to speak but now noticed that most of the pride had noticed the arrival of Scott, whom had not been seen by any of them since that fateful day at vault 87 only three years ago. "Um.. Scott I... I thought that you were in Point Lookout." Sarah tried to keep a straight face it was becoming increasingly hard as she got a good look at the lone wanderer's damaged face. She turned to her squad, "What the hell are you soldiers doing, get back on guard duty patrol the area do something goddammit!"

The pride reacted quickly to their leader's rant and most of them left to patrol the area. Scott was the next to speak, "I've got about thirty slaves here, they need some help."

Sarah felt anger at what he said yelling once again gathering the attention of the pride, "Like I fucking care about these people right now do you not notice that there are at least fifteen Brotherhood soldiers . right now!" Scott raised his voice, "DO you not think I know that Sarah, I'll do what I can to help too but you need to quit what you're doing now pretending you do not care about thirty innocent people who were just saved from slavery." Sarah felt guilt at yelling at Scott after seeing the right side of his face again. "I'm sorry." She muttered under her breath. Then she spoke again this time more quiet, "I can get one of the knights to escort them to Megaton once they get here, which should be sometime soon."

"OK Sarah that's good now what's the situation here, what do we know?"

"Not much, just that something has definitely happened here and whoever did it is damn good at their job apparently."

Then a new person interrupted them causing Sarah to sigh heavily, "Um Sentinel I think we found one of them."

Sarah peaked up and the initiate who had broken the news led the way to the ruins of a building where a dark figure laid face down in the dirt apparently dead. Sarah leaned down and turned the figure over and studied his face which was blacked out. She took off his pack and threw it at the initiate and told him to go through it while her and Scott studied the body. Scott squatted beside the body, "Long dreadlocks, light black leather armor, and a silenced firearm. What does that usually mean?" He looked at Sarah then they simultaneously said "Assassins" Then the evidence started to prove different. It started when the initiate discovered an insignia on a knife in the pack. Sarah and Scott both looked at it puzzled.

Sarah looked towards Scott who had seen more of the wasteland than anyone, "Um, you may be surprised at this but I do not think I have ever seen this before."

Sarah was surprised; Scott had traveled much in the recent years Espically after that fateful day at vault 87. I was a complete shock that he had NEVER seen anything like this before in all post apocalyptic East.

The engines of a vertibird were heard in the distance and Sarah snapped to attention, "Listen I need to brief them I'll make sure someone escorts your guys to Megaton. Please help the Pride out any way you can."

Scott nodded at Sarah and she walked away with another sigh. Gallows walked up next, "Follow me Scott we're going on patrol." Scott followed his orders and followed close behind him. After about ten minutes of silent walking they came up to a crater. Gallows slid down into it and then motioned for Scott to follow. Once alone Gallows pulled a small book from his pack, "Listen this is a journal I recovered a couple months ago on a prolonged visit to the Gulf commonwealth." Scott nodded, if anyone would know anything about this it would be Gallows. Gallows continued, while there I observed a shady association only known to me as the Gulf Association. From what I gathered they have fully functioning cities and are quietly building a small empire in the South." Scott interrupted Gallows, "OK even it was some people from down in the sticks they shouldn't match up with us, we are the Brotherhood. How can we only kill one?"

Gallows continued nodding, "OK while there I happened to be discovered by one of these people. Now I have fought everything from Legendary Deathclaws out west to hordes of super mutants downtown but this was the hardest thing to kill ever. I do not understand why but they have developed a certain mental state where they can somehow take not only more damage but keep operating smoothly after at least a clip from a .308 sniper rifle at point blank range. I think we encountered their special operations division judging by the weaponry we are seeing from the dead guy, If I am right then they are indeed scouting the capital wasteland."

Scott was next to speak, "And what just happened. Why would they go from scouting quietly to burning our outposts?" Gallows sighed, "I don't know a power show possibly, or...

"A prelude to an invasion?" Scott filled in."But how could they have gotten to the capital wasteland this quick without us hearing anything?"

Gallows looked puzzled, "Haven't figured that one out either."

He thought for a few moments then spoke again, "Scott you have contacts in the south correct?" Scott nodded, "Yes I have contacts in a few former southern cities."

Gallows spoke, "Could you check up on them and see if you can find out more about these people?"

Scott thought, on one hand he knew that the more he knew about these people the better prepared the brotherhood could be to fight them. On the other hand he didn't want to work with the brotherhood anymore, Espically after the Vault 87 incident.

Scott thought, "I'll do it on one condition, when we finish fighting I have a place I want checked out by the brotherhood."

Gallows looked puzzled, "I'll see what I can do."

"No Gallows you need to talk Sarah and Lyons into doing this, if you don't I won't do this."

Gallows was silent for a moment then spoke, "OK I'll make sure it gets down."

Scott smiled, "Good I want to help, I'll come to Citadel before I go out which will probably be a couple days."

"Why do we have to wait?"

"I just have some stuff to take care of first."

With that Gallows and Scott left the crater and started walking back to what was once the brotherhood east outpost.

Sarah was standing by the vertibird when they got back she turned to them greeting them and asking how their patrol went. Scott and Gallows answered casually and made casual conversation about Gallows killing a super mutant with his bear hands when a knight which Scott recognized for some reason walked up, "We can't find paladin Tristan Sentinel. I think they came back."


	3. 3

**Author's note: OK back from vacation and discontinued my other fallout story so I can focus on this. Thinking about doing an entire chapter explaining what happened at Vault 87 so let me know in the reviews section if that sounds like a good idea, or if I should just unlock the story little by little. Alright enjoy the next chapter and leave reviews please.**

Paladin Tristan's first instinct was to fight when he was grabbed by some mysterious force. He had unsheathed his knife and stabbed violently at air right before everything went dark. Now here he was in a cold, damp, room with nothing on but his underwear and what appeared to be a bullet wound in his left shoulder. He tried to move cringing in pain when he did this. Noticing that the pain wasn't coming from his arm, Tristan searched for where the pain was coming from. That was when he saw the chain, he crawled toward the chain and little by little started to reach the chain's origin. He reached it's point of origin and heard a sharp POP! Fearing the worst Tristan looked down at his hand, he saw nothing and juts as the pain set in a man entered the room. He was dressed nicely in a suit and tie and puffed on cigar.

"You are going to tell me everything about your beloved brotherhood or you will die a very painful death which I myself have orchestrated."

Tristan laughed, "Fuck You I choose death."

The man bent down and puffed on his cigar one more time, he then moved swiftly and stuffed the lit cigar into his captive's mouth.

After few moments of this the man took the cigar out of Tristan's mouth and spoke again. "listen to me, your brotherhood will not succeed no matter what you have been told, no matter what you may think. You will not win, we can destroy your outposts at will; we will wipe you off like a bug."

Tristan now delirious spoke again, "Then I'll see you in hell."

With that Tristan moved quickly and put his chain in front of the open bear trap hoping it would spring forward and set him free. It worked and he dove for the man reaching for his sidearm at the same time. The man calmly dodged him and silently put a pullet into the weaker human's head. He lit another cigar and calmly walked out of the cell room while Tristan bled out on the cold damp floor while only a mile away his people frantically looked for him.

3 hours later

Sentinel Lyons tried to sleep as the sun came up over the ruins of the brotherhood east outpost. The search for Tristan had not gone well. No one had found anything and appeared as if the Head Paladin had just disappeared into the thin air. Sarah had only agreed to go to a vertibird and catch a nap when Scott had volunteered to oversee the patrols for the time being. While Sarah questioned her former second in command's motives she had no other option. He was the closest thing the knights had to a leader at the moment, Although Scott had not been active in the brotherhood in the three years since the botched OP at Vault 87 most of the Knights now were initiates when the war with the Enclave still raged. So needless to say Scott was still well respected in the Ranks of the knights, although the Paladins sometimes bickered over the former brotherhood hero.

The rumors had been what Sarah had to rely on when it came to the Lone wanderer. The first rumors of course were those that he had somehow survived at Vault 87. Shortly after that the rumors arrived about the damage to his face, it was unmistakable, the two slash marks on his face now dominated him and must have struck the fear of God into any and all enemies of him. Then his legend increased, and stories of his travels spread throughout the wastes. In what must have been 2281 news reached the Brotherhood that Scott had contracted a company to transform what used to be Paradise falls into his own personal compound. He hired mercs and bought robots from someone to guard the place and make it operational. Before too long the compound actually made her father's situation board. There were even secret plans in the works for assaulting his compound and capturing him using gas. These were quickly thrown out the window when they received a single radio message from Scott. "Don't mess with me, and I will not cause any problems for your brotherhood." Sarah couldn't count how many times she had thought about finding him and trying to talk things through. But there were bigger problems.

While Scott was conducting his own Ops and going god knows where the Brotherhood found themselves in a great time of expansion throughout the wastes. After the defeat of the Enclave the Brotherhood had developed new weapons and had even upgraded their armor to Mark II with some Mark III and Tesla prototypes on the board. Gauss rifles replaced the old .308 models for the regulars although Colvin, Dawn, and the new sniper Thompson still preferred either bolt action models or the .308 models. The Pride had been used a lot since Scott left, mostly in operations to secure the inner city from the Talons company mercs and the super mutants. From 2278 to 2281 the entire brotherhood had hit the city with a fierce volley of attacks and eventually united the whole wasteland under one flag. Doing this without Scott showed Sarah and everyone else that although Scott had done so much he wasn't all the brotherhood had to offer. A wave of pride swept through the entire wasteland and for the first time the city of Washington DC was deemed safe for settlement. Things had also improved for the brotherhood as a whole.

Also, another development had happened recently. Everyone, including Elder Lyons himself, was surprised when one day it was announced the the New California Republic had fallen in the west and it was now deemed safe for Scribe Arthur Maxson to travel to Lost Hills and take his rightful place as High Elder. Sarah had proudly been a part of the expedition to bring Maxson to his rightful place. Along the way communications were restored and before to long it seemed that the entire brotherhood was unified under the rule of a nineteen year old kid. In the west the brotherhood expanded and soon orders came down to appoint ranks to any and all brotherhood chapters. This gave Tristan a promotion to Head Paladin, Rothchild to Head scribe, and Kodiak took a promotion to Head Knight. The new brotherhood military commander General Benson was very similar to Elder Lyons in the way that he wanted the brotherhood to take over little by little with orders to leave only the south and the New Vegas empire alone. Sarah reflected on this and thought about how it was amazing that things had happened like this.

Scott smoked a cigarette and sat in the remnants of a watchtower while the Knights around him fortified the outpost. Scott had to admit he missed this; if he would have stayed he could have been second in command of the Pride. Hell, he could have even beat Kodiak to head knight. Scott shook his head, he knew that if the brotherhood acted the way they did at Vault 87 then he could have never been at that kind of position. Still he had to help them because that just the way he was, he couldn't just stand by while some invisible enemy killed everything. Scott had not given much thought to his future journey, he had contacts as far south as the ruins of Memphis, TN, he figured he could go there and get all the info he needed from there. However part of him feared that this so called Gulf association had already secured the area south of the Capital wasteland. A part of him feared that this was a suicide mission, because Scott knew that this was a scouting OP. Gallows wanted someone behind the lines of the war that loomed over them to disrupt the enemy. Scott quietly formed a plan in his head as slowly the Brotherhood East outpost began to look normal.

**Author's note: I know a summary chapter, but I felt like I needed one explaining things. Scott and his adventures will be taking a backseat as the Gulf commonwealth empire decides to make their move. Sarah Lyons is basically the main character here. The NV empire may make a cameo appearance but it wont be anything huge. I know this is half listed as a romance and I will get to that if you all cannot already see the groundwork being laid. Anyways let me know what you think and give me some feedback, and I'll be getting back to normal soon. Hopefully chapter will get here every couple days if everything goes to plan. **

**Footnote: Just thanks to the Fallout Wiki I use it for most of my research seeing as I never played F1 or F2, great website.**


	4. 4

**Author's note: OK finally back to writing after a major brain letdown. Hopefully this chapter will go according to plan. Hope you all enjoyed my summary chapter btw.**

Sarah finally found sleep after hours upon hours of lying in the vertibird. Even when the sleep did come it was the kind of sleep where you are waking up constantly sweating and constantly in fear; always in fear now. She couldn't believe how quickly things could change. Twenty four hours ago she was complaining about how there was nothing to do for the pride anymore. Now she feared for her life while Scott of all people was for all intents and purposes in charge of her men. It was not easy sleep and she had no dreams.

Scott sat on the watch tower playing with his pip-boy going through a dialogue file he had downloaded about a week ago while scavenging through a building downtown. While he sat on the watchtower he had some time to think. About life, dad, and mostly about Sarah. The remnants of a smile graced the grizzled war veteran's face as he thought of a time not too long ago when he had even wanted to be with her more than anything. His smiled widened as he remembered a night before, in better times where he and Sarah had split a huge bottle of Scotch and gotten close… so close before she simply nodded her head no. Scott had found himself regretting being in the pride at the time knowing that this was why she wouldn't have anything to do with him. Honestly Scott wondered if his thinking about Sarah had impacted his judgment when he decided to not retreat at 87. Scott's train of thought was interrupted by a worried voice.

"Um sir you are going to need to wake Sentinel Lyons up. I think we found a body. Could be Tristan's"

Scott sighed, "OK I'm going to wake her up I actually need to go home anyways so I'll wake her up then get going."

The knight shrugged and walked away. Scott stood up slowly then grabbed his rifle and jumped off the guard tower. They were met by a more refreshed Sentinel Lyons who had obviously rested some.

Scott was the first to speak, "Um, Sarah you need to go talk to that knight over there. I didn't get his name but he says they found a body. I need to go back home though, you know alert my men."

Sarah nodded, "OK I'll send a division of knights to help defend your area and give us an operations post in Central Capital wasteland."

Scott grew angry drawing a snarl from Sarah, "You're really gonna start of this brotherhood politics bullshit again?"

"I was just thinking that since you're helping us…"

Scott interrupted her mid-sentence, "No I am not helping, not anymore, good luck with your war." He paused, "I think Gallows has some Intel you could use. Tell him the deal is off I'll do it myself."

With that the Lone wanderer walked away again leaving Sarah and the rest of the pride just where he was going. She sighed and joined up with the knight Scott had pointed out before stomping off. In the back of her head Sarah wondered why he had freaked out on such a massive level. However there were more important things because the man whom Sarah had once called uncle was possibly dead. The knight led her to a crater with a body at the very bottom. Sarah threw her rifle aside and told the knight to cover it. The knight was clearly exited to hold a fully automatic laser rifle, which was only reserved for the pride and a select number of Paladins. Sarah reached the bottom and her fears were realized.

She couldn't understand how weak the second strongest man looked in this hole his face even more emotionless than it was when he was still alive. She yelled for the knight to go get some backup to retrieve the body. She propped herself against a rock that was surprisingly in the crater and cried. She was glad she was alone. She couldn't let the pride or any of the brotherhood see her like this. Not now. Now the brotherhood needed a leader. She sniffed and found herself removing the holotag and studying it. She read the inscription that took a carved appearance in the blue texture:

_Paladin Tristan Jenson_

_Born: Lost Hills, California June 11, 2234_

Sarah took a utensil used just for these situations, mostly if anyone in the pride died so that she could record the time immediately. She looked at her pip-boy which had been given to all high ranking personnel, and then she started crying again inscribing the date as she did.

_Death: East Capital wasteland, June 11, 2283_

She propped herself against the boulder again still sobbing reflecting on some of her first memories of the journey to the capital wasteland in which Tristan had tried to keep the always bored three year old entertained with jokes and even taught her how to shoot a hunting rifle after they had reached the remnants of the Pentagon. After everything he had done she had never even bothered to remember his birthday.

She kept sobbing and was for the most part ignored when a squad of knights came to remove the body. The knight faced the powerful Sentinel Lyons with an outstretched hand offered his condolences. She forced a smiled at the gesture and got up with a death grip still on the holotag. He removed his helmet and handed it to her smiling, "Here put this on. We won't say anything."

Sarah smiled and put the helmet on. She felt guilty that the knight was being so nice to her while she didn't even know her name. The walk back to the vertibird was pretty uneventful. She was surprised when the vertibird was started up and ready to go. Glade, her new second in command met her outside,

"Ma'am we need to get back to the Citadel we're leaving the knights here under the supervision of Paladin Jones. Do we need to leave one of our guys here?"

Sarah nodded no and she entered the vertibird. She then took off and threw the knight's helmet back, "Thank You." She paused, "Come by and see me back at the citadel." The knight looked as if he had just won the lottery as the vertibird flew away.

Meanwhile Scott had gotten back to his compound once known as Paradise falls with his mind still a swarm of activity. Chief Gustavo met him at the gate, "Welcome back sir while you we're gone we…"

The lone wanderer interrupted him, "Shut up Gustavo and tell Jackson to bring my regular to my room quickly or I'll feed him to the Brahmin for dinner." He paused, "Oh and put all of our personnel on high alert, shoot anyone who tries to enter, I don't care what their selling."

Gustavo nodded and got on the intercom with Jackson, "You better get to his room quick. Boss is in a bitchy mood today."

A response was not even needed from the loyal employee. Scott walked back to his room and slammed the door. He went to his computer and opened up a new file entitled Phoenix. He worked until Jackson entered with a tray in hand. "Sir you're regular of Med-x, Rad-x, and whiskey." Scott took it and injected both liquids into the drink of champions. He drank in one swig and slammed the bottle down on the desk. He then turned to his loyal servant.

"Feeling well lately I see."

"Yeah Doc you startin to think maybe you were wrong."

A simple nod was all Scott needed to shut up. "Well how long do I have?"

Jackson shrugged, "Maybe three weeks if we're lucky."

The lone wanderer looked at the picture on his desk, the only one he owned, of his father and him. Then he looked at the empty bottle of Alcohol, "Shit."

**Author's note: Alright this chapter was hard to word I had to rewrite like five times. Well, practice makes perfect I guess and I think I went with a good version. Still considering the Vault 87 chapter and if it fits I'll do it. I always enjoy any and all feedback. Also rating could change to M pending further developments. Not sure though. Also things are about to pick back up and action and fight scenes will start up soon.**


	5. 5

**Author's note: Hope you all enjoyed chp 4. Now on to 5. Hope you all enjoy and please review.**

Sarah Lyons sat in a private safe room in the B ring that was reserved for special occasions such as this. There were several things which made this room so different than any other in the Citadel. First, it was the only other room with a high-tech situation board. Another unique feature was that this room was sound proof. So no passerby could hear what was going on inside. Meetings like this usually only had three to four participants: Sarah Lyons, Elder Lyons, Head Knight Kodiak, and former head paladin Tristan. Meetings like this were usually the prelude to the larger operations meetings in which most of the pride would participate.

Today the object of the meeting was the this shady organization from the gulf apparently. The odd man in the room was the always quiet Gallows who was providing the only intelligence on this new enemy. Elder Owyn Lyons had aged considerably in the past few years. The campaign against the mutants downtown was tiring and cost many lives and manpower. It didn't help that Scott, their #1 operator was not speaking to anyone. However there was a war to win and Lyons had to lead his weary brotherhood once again to success. Lyons opened up the conversation after Gallows gave his report.

"Everyone, this Gulf association obviously has some kind of natural immunity to our tactics. We know that there were over twenty marks from standard laser rifles in their dead operative. A standard issue laser rifle could bring down an Enclave power armored soldier with three well placed shots. The issue is dire friends. We must do what we can to defend our territories in the Capital wasteland."

The group nodded in agreement, except Kodiak who interrupted, "Elder, I think we should lock down downtown and turn over all offensive operations to Lyons pride and a small division of Paladins and hand picked knights perhaps."

Lyons nodded, "We need to separate the wastelanders from the battlefield; and for the first time we actually have that power. I believe we can use Liberty prime to help fortify the Mall colony and turn it over to refugees."

Liberty prime had been reconstructed not as a tool of destruction, but more of a conventional tool. He had helped with the construction of many buildings in the downtown colonies and had been instrumental in clearing the debris that separated the surface streets of DC. Lyons stood up and took a deep breath.

"Kodiak order your knights to make their rounds through the settlements and warn them of the impending war. Please convince as many as possible to come to DC. Promise them safety and food."

Kodiak stood up and nodded before excusing himself.

Lyons continued, "The Paladins will be under temporary care of Star Paladin Cross although she will not be getting in the field. Meanwhile, I need to pride to gather intelligence about these people. Tonight rest up, then meet me in the regular round table for briefing. Dismissed."

With that Lyons sighed and left the room. Sarah and Gallows left as well to rest up for tomorrow.

The next day

Scott smoked a cigarette and sat on top of his main building in ruins of Paradise falls. With each puff of the cigarette he grew more bitter. He regretted taking up the nasty things but found that he couldn't quit no matter how hard he tried. In one hand was a copy of the doctor's report on his current condition. In the other was his trademark Black hawk.

When Scott was quiet he could almost here the screaming and pain he had endured in the past five years. It was never the same. The pain and suffering never changed. What had he done to make the wasteland a better place? He had paved the way for the brotherhood to take lead in securing a "better wasteland for any and all." Then they left him face down in the dirt for death. He had tried to come back and they had easily taken him for granted. No wonder he couldn't trust anyone. He had cheated death twice in his life. There was no more dodging bullets. Only catching his own. It was too late for the old forgotten war veteran. The radiation had spread to his brain. That meant it was time to die for the Lone wanderer. Deep inside he was glad he would die alone. Partially because he was alone. It was ironic that the radiation received at Vault 87 and the side effect of his loyalty to brotherhood was what would be responsible for his demise.

Scott had never considered a guns blazing kind of exit from the world. He preferred to die alone, as he had lived. He was after all the Lone wanderer. The thought of that name sent shivers down his spine. Also it propelled him to turn on Galaxy news radio for the first time in awhile. He leaned back and listened to a slow Jazz mix which he had persuaded Three Dog to play the last time he visited. It had actually grown in popularity and was the standard on this station. Suddenly the music stopped. He was shocked when he did not here the voice of the familiar three dog but the voice of a brotherhood soldier. He listened closely as the voice began.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the capital wasteland. I wish I had better news for you today. If you're hearing this then you most likely have heard that a brotherhood outpost was attack earlier this week. This is 100% true. As I speak Knights are roaming the wastes to gather refugees. Please cooperate with them and know that you are in safe hands. If you decide not go do not expect help from the brotherhood of steel. If you are listening to this you have one chance to leave. Because after all civilians are safe we are quarantining the city. We expect this operation to be done by midnight tomorrow if all goes well. Fliers have been dropped in every major settlement and will have details on where to go for evacuation. Thank you for you're future cooperation and Steel be with you."

Scott couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was just about to turn off this shit when a relieving voice entered his ears.

"This is three dog and I have my own message. Scott man, wherever you are. We need your help. The wasteland needs your help. The brotherhood may have their own bullshit methods but you're the only real hope we have. Please. Do it for your father. Would he have agreed with this. Please you're the only one who can help us. Please brother, if your out there understand that WE need your help. This is our darkest hour and..."

Scott cut the radio off before he could hear any more of this. He wasn't going to listen to this guy talk about how much they needed him. He was going to die in peace. Without any more of this bullshit. He would quietly write his memoirs and spend his last days as he lived, alone. It was then he thought back to a found memory from the vault that. The kind of memory that can be repressed or hidden for a long time. It was back in the vault.

Vault 101

James looked down at his son a jubilant young boy of almost four. He prayed that he not know of his father's wrongdoings. He looked down and decided to speak the words he had thought about for so long. He had always planned for this to happen when his young son were much older. However he felt a kind of divine thing that makes you so anxious to say something you feel as if you will explode. More nervous than ever before he spoke to his son, whom would probably not even remember this.

"Scott... You're young now please don't forget the people your leaving behind. Always remember that I want you to do what is right and I never want you to give up fighting. Because when you give up fighting... You end up just like me. Don't die with hatred, die with joy in your heart and fight until the fight is out of you. This is important because one day... one day we'll get out of this place."

A four year old Scott looked puzzled at his father who was almost at tears. James wrapped his son in a hug and once again thought about what he himself was leaving behind.

Scott thought about this memory, one that he just discovered. Almost as puzzled as he was on that day he looked up at the sky. "Ok." He grumbled before putting his cigarette out and getting off the seat. "You win Dad."

**Author's note: Yeah kinda strange ending I know. I tried several endings for this chapter but decided this was best. One of my options actually ending with Scott killing Elder Lyons lol. Dad's speech did not go as well as I had planned but take into account that I am writing this at 1:00am my time. Anyways let me know what you all think of the chapter and remember I also enjoy criticism. Chp 6 should be up by the end of the week if all goes well. **


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